Chapter 5 - Lincoln's Last Lie
The storage facility was twenty miles outside the city.
Nora and Ethan arrived just before midnight.
Unit 418.
The key turned.
Inside were boxes.
Dozens.
Old financial records.
Photographs.
USB drives.
Documents.
And one suitcase.
Nora recognized it.
Lincoln's.
She stared.
“He kept all of this here.”
Ethan nodded.
“Because he didn't trust his own apartment.”
Nora opened the suitcase.
Inside were photographs of her.
Her leaving work.
Walking home.
Buying groceries.
Standing at the coffee shop.
Her hands began to shake.
“He was following me.”
“No.”
Ethan looked carefully.
“He was monitoring you.”
“That's the same thing.”
“Not necessarily.”
A note sat beneath the photographs.
Protect Nora.
Nothing else matters.
Nora looked at Ethan.
“Who wrote that?”
“Lincoln.”
She picked up another envelope.
My plan failed.
Her breath caught.
The letter was addressed to Ethan.
Ethan opened it.
Lincoln had written:
You don't know me, Ethan.
But I know who you are.
I found David Cole's old files three years ago.
Your father wasn't killed by accident.
Marcus ordered it.
My father helped cover it up.
I discovered everything after my father's death.
When I realized Nora's father had left surviving evidence, I tried to protect her.
I knew Marcus would use me to reach her.
So I became the man she would hate.
Ethan read in silence.
Nora's eyes filled with tears.
“He didn't cheat.”
“No.”
“He made me hate him.”
“Yes.”
“To protect me.”
“Yes.”
She sank into a chair.
“Why didn't he tell me?”
“Because Marcus was monitoring your communications.”
Nora suddenly remembered the missing sketch.
“How did they get into my apartment?”
“Someone had access.”
“Jessica?”
“Possibly.”
“Lincoln?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Ethan searched the photographs.
He found one of her building's security entrance.
A maintenance employee.
He zoomed in.
“Victor Hale.”
Nora recognized him.
“He works downstairs.”
Ethan's expression hardened.
“Marcus's man.”
They called the police.
But before officers arrived, Nora received another text.
LINCOLN:
I'm sorry.
Then:
I love you.
Then:
Run.
Nora looked up.
A car stopped outside the facility.
Then another.
Ethan closed the suitcase.
“We're leaving.”
“What about Lincoln?”
“He's trying to get them away from us.”
They ran through the back door.
Three vehicles followed.
Ethan drove hard through narrow roads while Nora held the suitcase against her chest.
“Where are we going?”
“To someone I trust.”
“Who?”
“My aunt.”
“You have an aunt?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you mention her?”
“She lives off-grid.”
Nora almost laughed.
“Of course she does.”
The drive took two hours.
Near dawn, they reached a secluded property surrounded by cedar trees.
An older woman opened the door.
Her silver hair was pulled back tightly.
She looked at Ethan.
Then at Nora.
“Oh,” she said.
“So that's her.”
Nora blinked.
“Who am I?”
The woman sighed.
“The reason my nephew has been sleeping badly for six months.”
Ethan closed his eyes.
“Aunt Claire.”
“What?”
Claire stepped aside.
“Come in before the people chasing you decide to become impatient.”
Inside, the house was warm and quiet.
Claire made coffee.
Then she looked at Nora.
“Your father saved my life.”
Nora stared.
“He did?”
“Twenty years ago.”
“How?”
“He refused to sign a fraudulent inspection report.”
Claire smiled sadly.
“Thomas Whitmore was stubborn.”
Nora laughed through her tears.
“Yes.”
Claire turned toward Ethan.
“You finally met his daughter.”
Ethan looked at Nora.
“I didn't plan it.”
Claire smiled.
May you like
“Neither did your father.”
That sentence stayed with Nora all morning.
